In 1995 Chicago once again faced the task of finding a new guitarist. The band scheduled two days of auditions to hear a select group of prospects. As it turned out, however, the new group member would be one who crashed the party.

"They had a pretty firm list of guys that they were going to listen to," recalls Keith Howland. "I actually heard that Chicago was looking for a guitar player on the first day of the auditions through a friend of mine who happened to be working in the building where they were being held." Howland contacted the band's management only to be told that the audition was closed. "As a last ditch effort, I just went ahead and drove down there, and I sat in the parking lot and waited for the band to show up," he says. Howland had had a brief contact with Jason Scheff, who had once stopped in to listen to a band he'd been in, and when Scheff drove up, he reintroduced himself to the bass player. "I said, 'Any chance I could get an audition?,' and he told me to go on home because they were full that day, but that he'd talk to the guys," Howland says .

They must not have heard anybody who satisfied them, because Howland got a call from Scheff that night saying they had extended a third day just to hear him." I went down, and I was the only guy to play that day," he recalls. "I was so nervous it was ridiculous, I played through a bunch of tunes with them, did some a cappella background vocals with Bill, Jason, and Robert. We finished up, I was packing up my gear. They all went into the hallway and were talking. Bill came walking back in and said , 'Hey, you want a gig?'

Howland's persistence is explained by his longtime interest in Chicago. Born on August 14, 1964, in Silver Spring, Maryland, Howland and his whole family have been Chicago fans since the group's first national success. "My older brother was the first one that turned me on to the band, actually," he noted. Howland began playing guitar at the age of seven, and Terry Kath was one of his earliest influences. Howland headed for Los Angeles after graduating from college in 1988. He found gigs with Patty Smyth and Rick Springfield, but landing a place in Chicago, one he says he will keep "for the duration, as long as they'll have me," is the biggest break in his career.

What gave Howland the edge over the other guitarists the band listened to? It was a sound the members of Chicago had not heard in a long time. "When Keith made the audition, be played so much of the inside stuff and the rhythm stuff like Terry did that he was the guy," says Parazaider. "You just knew he was the guy to do this."

Howland's return to Terry Kath's rhythmic style of playing could not be more deliberate, and it has contributed to his fast acceptance from Chicago's fans. "The reason I did it was because I grew up listening to the music," he says. "It didn't seem right for me to come in and play it any other way because that was the way I had always heard it." Using Kath's work as a basis, Howland has developed his own guitar sound within Chicago.

In 1995, Chicago secured rights to its catalog of recordings originally made for Columbia between 1969 and 1980. That catalog has now been reissued on the group's Chicago Records label, which also has released sole efforts by the band members as well as other projects. "We are Chicago Records, which means we can look for talent, we can look for other catalogs to put out on our record company," says Parazaider. "We've got some interesting things coming up."

Among the other interesting things that came up for Chicago was a new approach to concerts and a new record. On July 7, 1996, the band played at the Hollywood Bowl backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. The show featured newly written orchestral charts, including the complete "Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon" from Chicago II. "When I saw the score that Dwight Mikkelson wrote for the orchestra for 'Ballet For A Girl In Bachannon,' I just got goose bumps," Parazaider says. "'Labor of love' isn't even the right words. I was just ecstatic."

Parazaider credits the Moody Blues, with whom Chicago toured, for inspiring the idea. "Then we started thinking that a lot of our music would really be suited to an orchestra," says the man who gave up a seat in the Chicago Symphony to play rock 'n' roll. "We've done little things, bits and pieces of stuff like that here and there. But this is a major undertaking. We were investing quite a bit of time, talent, and money to this thing to get all of these things written up, but if it does go over, this might be something we could sit in and do with different orchestras. Maybe, we'll just say maybe, it'll be shades of things to come. If I sound excited about it, I am!"

The likely next Chicago recording to be released will be its Ultimate Greatest Hits. Over the years, various hits compilations have come out, but none of the American ones has contained the band's hits from the '60's to the '90's. The Ultimate Greatest Hits will rectify that and also bring Chicago's story up to date. "It's something that I think we'll start working on come the fall after we get done with our summer touring," says Parazaider. "We're excited to put a greatest hits compilation together that's never been done before and also to go in and put a couple of new tunes down, which will be a statement of where we are now. We're talking about a Christmas release, or maybe the beginning of next year."

In 1997, Chicago released the 30^th Anniversary celebration record, The Heart of Chicago 1967-1997.  It was here that the opportunities to work with Glen Ballard and celebrated composer James Newton Howard, as well as Lenny Kravitz presented themselves.  The album was quickly certified gold, and featured the #1 AC hit, "Here In My Heart."

In 1998, the band followed up with The Heart of Chicago 1967 - 1998 Volume II, which represented another fresh collaboration, in this case with Roy Bittan of the E Street Band.  That Fall, Chicago again worked with Roy to create Chicago 25, the band’s first ever holiday album.  Released on their own Chicago Records, Chicago was certified gold in 1999.

In 1999, Chicago released Chicago 26, the group’s first live record since the epic Chicago At Carnegie Hall Volumes I-IV.  The reasoning behind the Chicago 26 was simple:  Chicago’s current line-up deserves to be captured live.  In 1999, Chicago also added a unique twist to that year’s live show:  working with VH1’s Save The Music Foundation, the band invited young musicians to come up onstage and perform alongside Chicago on one of their classic cuts. In city after city, fans gave standing ovations to the kids who participated.  In November of that year, the group even brought a high school trumpet player to perform with them on NBC’s "Today Show" – a once in a lifetime thrill that the youngster will never forget.

In 2002, Chicago signed an impressive pact with Rhino Entertainment, which unified their early catalog with the later Warner Bros. work. Since then, Rhino has remastered and repackaged all of the band’s early works on CD, giving fans the very best sound and packaging. Rhino has also released an acclaimed 39-song collection called Only The Beginning: the Very Best Of Chicago, which has been certified platinum, a comprehensive 5-CD box set featuring a special archival DVD, and a live performance DVD culled from the band’s appearance on the popular TV show, A&E Live By Request.

In 2004 and 2005, Chicago created headlines by partnering with their friends Earth, Wind & Fire for one of the most inspired co-headlining runs in recent concert business memory. Fans were enthralled by the 3 hours of music, featuring solo sets and full-band collaborations that must be seen. A DVD of the tour, “Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire: Live At the Greek Theatre” was certified platinum less than two months after release.

In 2006, Chicago released its 30th album, Chicago XXX. Produced by Jay DeMarcus of the superstar country group Rascal Flatts, Chicago XXX found a large audience of music fans disenchanted by much of today’s music. Chicago XXX was welcomed as a tour de force studio album, with inventive melodies, great lead vocals and harmonies, the trademark horn sound, and superb all around musicianship.

Another 2006 highlight, was the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to perform with its marching band during halftime at the Notre Dame vs. North Carolina football game – the first such invitation in Notre Dame history. Heroes to generations of marching bands, the members of Chicago participated in a weekend full of activities, culminating in a spectacular half-time concert in front of 80,000 people. The entire celebration was filmed and plans are in the works now for a late Summer DVD release via Rhino Entertainment/Warner Bros.

The Chicago-Notre Dame connection is well known: Chicago’s manager, Peter Schivarelli, played football for Notre Dame Football under coaching legend Ara Parseghian. Since 1995, because of the strong personal tie, Chicago has donated a portion of each ticket sold to the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation, which seeks a cure to the fatal children’s disease, Neimann-Pick Type C. Recently, band members Robert Lamm, Jimmy Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Lee Loughnane found out from Schivarelli that current Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis had started the Hannah & Friends Foundation to improve the quality of life for children and adults with special needs. They readily agreed to donate an additional portion of ticket sales to help raise money for Coach Weis’ foundation. For Chicago, the concept of “giving back” is literal, active and daily.

Other highlights of the last few years includes the frequent use of the band’s songs and music in TV shows such as HBO’s “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City,” as well as movies such as “My Girl 2,” “Summer Lovers,” “Happy Feet,” “Three Kings,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “Little Nicky,” and “A Lot Like Love.”

Today, decades after they gathered at Parazaider's apartment, the members of Chicago continue the legacy of music they inherited from their parents and their teachers and that they have brought to millions of fans. "My dad, he must be playing now 65 years professionally, something like that, off and on," Parazaider notes. "I sat down with him, and he was practicing. He looked at me, and he held the trumpet in his hand, and he said, 'You know, Walt, one day I'm going to learn this thing.' That's when I had a moment of clarity, and I realized that what we've been doing all these years is not measured in a time limit, that it's a way of life, the way my father has pursued it and enjoyed it his whole life. So, later on in life, I learned what I want to be when I grow up. I'm in the pursuit of my life's work, and I finally realized it."

2007 is a milestone year for Chicago, the legendary rock ’n’ roll band with horns. Well known for extraordinary creativity, influential musicianship and staggering commercial success, Chicago now celebrates its 40th Anniversary – a show of longevity rarely achieved in most careers, let alone the music business.

People have always wondered about the name "Chicago." One simple sentence from the liner notes of the very first album eliminates any question as to their identity. "If you must call them something, speak of the city where all save one were born, where all of them were schooled and bred. Call them Chicago.